AFTER 11 years and 47 bouts, Thailand’s former two-weight world champion Panya Pradabsri, aka Petchmanee CP Freshmart, has called time on his career. Earlier this month, Pradabsri was outworked for much of his fifth-round stoppage loss to Carlos Canizales in Venezuela.
Save for a surprise fourth-round knockdown of his own, Panya did not look at the races before a body shot ended his evening, costing him his WBC light-flyweight title in the process. The Thai had not looked great in their first fight either, scraping out a majority decision victory in Bangkok at the close of 2024.
Canizales ended the return fixture in clinical fashion. Taking the fight by the scruff, the local Caracas man had the crowd in El Poliedro buzzing with excitement from the opening bell. A weary Pradabsri could not compete. After almost 50 pro contests, the Bangkok resident, now aged 34, could no longer respond as he once did.
Opting against a potentially lucrative trilogy meeting, with the score now officially tied at 1-1, Panya realised he had nothing left to offer the sport. Suffering his third overall career defeat, Pradabsri was stopped for the first time.
Bouncing back from an early career setback, Pradabsri’s finest hour came in 2020 when he stunned 54-0 Chayaphon Moonsri, aka Wanheng Meenayothin, to win the WBC strawweight/minimumweight title. A second win over Moonsri, plus back-to-back defences against Japan’s Norihito Tanaka, confirmed his status as the main man at 105 pounds.
A third trip to Japan, with title in hand, was less fruitful as Pradabsri lost to the recently retired Yudai Shigeoka, who was 7-0 at the time. Panya moved up to light-flyweight after that defeat, winning the vacant WBC strap controversially over Canizales.
Shortly after the Canizales rematch, fighter and coach Wasim Mather, who worked Pradabsri’s corner on the night, wrote in Boxing News, “The next morning, we flew back to Thailand. At 34, with 47 bouts and two world titles in two divisions, Petchmanee will take his time to decide what’s next. Cañizales holds the cards now, with big fights at 108 lbs on the horizon.”
Pradabsri has now made his decision, and the exit has opened up a space in the Boxing News rankings where he previously occupied seventh spot. Japan’s Masataka Taniguchi is now expected to enter the lower reaches of the top 10 as a result of this news.
